BOOK ONE: THE MAN WHO NEVER DIED
Chapter 1 — The Sound That Shouldn't Exist
At exactly 2:17 a.m., Mira Roy woke up.
She hadn't heard anything—no scream, no crash, no nightmare.
Just silence breaking itself.
Her clock had stopped ticking.
Every clock in the house had stopped at the same second.
Mira sat up, heart racing, and whispered the name she never said aloud anymore.
"Aarav."
The air in her bedroom felt occupied, like someone had just exhaled near her ear. She turned on the lamp.
Nothing.
Except a damp footprint on the floor.
Leading away from her bed.
Chapter 2 — A Love That Was Buried Wrong
Three years ago, Aarav Sen was declared dead.
Mira remembered the funeral without a body. The way his mother cried like she didn't believe it. The way the river kept its secrets.
What no one knew:
Aarav had told Mira once, half-smiling, half-serious:
"If I ever disappear, don't look for me.
If I come back, don't trust me."
She loved him anyway.
That was her first mistake.
Chapter 3 — The Watch That Knows Her Name
The parcel arrived on a Thursday.
Inside: a pocket watch Mira had repaired for Aarav the night before he "died."
She hadn't engraved the message inside.
Yet it read:
You still sleep on the left side of the bed.
Her stomach dropped.
Someone had been watching her sleep.
Chapter 4 — He Is Not a Ghost
She found him beneath the abandoned railway platform.
Alive.
Breathing.
Smiling like a man who had practiced not smiling for years.
Aarav touched her face as if checking whether she was real.
"I came back because they finally noticed you," he said.
Mira stepped away.
"Who is they?"
Aarav hesitated.
That hesitation was more terrifying than any answer.
Chapter 5 — Love as Surveillance
Aarav knew everything.
The grocery shop owner who asked too many questions.
The neighbor who photographed her house.
The stranger who followed her twice and stopped when she turned.
"I protected you," Aarav said softly.
Mira realized something chilling:
He hadn't returned for love.
He had returned for control.
And part of her hated herself for feeling safer with him there.
Chapter 6 — The First Lie She Believes
Aarav told her he disappeared because he was framed for a murder.
He told her the clock she repaired contained hidden evidence.
He told her he loved her.
Only one of those things was fully true.
Mira didn't know which.
But she let him stay.
That was her second mistake.
Chapter 7 — The House Learns to Listen
The house changed when Aarav moved in.
Doors closed on their own.
Lights flickered only when Mira was alone.
The clocks ticked louder at night—as if counting something down.
Mira started writing notes to herself.
Because she began forgetting conversations.
And Aarav always remembered them perfectly.
Chapter 8 — You Can't Love a Weapon
Mira discovered a hidden room.
Inside: photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Her leaving the house.
Her sleeping.
Her crying after nightmares.
Some were taken before Aarav's death.
She confronted him.
Aarav didn't deny it.
"I loved you long before you loved me," he said.
"And I loved you enough to become dangerous."
Chapter 9 — The Kiss That Confesses a Crime
When the police finally came, the house burned.
Evidence vanished.
A man died—officially an accident.
Mira kissed Aarav while sirens screamed closer.
She tasted blood.
She didn't ask whose.
Chapter 10 — The Ending That Isn't One
Aarav was arrested.
He smiled at Mira as if this was always the plan.
"I taught you how to survive," he said.
"Now decide what you are."
Years later, Mira married another man.
The town believed she escaped the darkness.
But every night at 2:17 a.m., Mira locked her bedroom door.
And whispered into the ticking silence:
"Are you watching me?"
Somewhere far away, a watch answered.